History Main / CentipedesDilemma

* In one ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' story, Jughead beats Reggie at bowling by tricking him into actually focusing on the mechanics of play (e.g. how many steps he takes during windup, the ergonomics of the bowling ball) instead of just playing.

** An actual [[http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/yips/basics/definition/con-20031359 acknowledged medical condition known as "Yips"]] is thought by some to be a form of this trope, and golfers are quite familiar with it since it tends to strike when they're trying to line up a putt. However, [[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/26/the-yips researchers suggest]] that it may be a neurological condition exacerbated by the performance anxiety common in sports.

* Related to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unusual_software_bug#Schr.C3.B6dinbug schrödinbugs]].

* In the ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' series it is possible to fly as long as you don't think about the fact that you're flying. It's not terribly hard. All you have to do is throw yourself at the ground and miss (the only way to miss is to distract yourself somehow right before you hit the ground).

** Proper nouns -- personal names in particular -- can suddenly look pretty ''weird'', because they may derive from a variety of ancient linguistic roots and don't necessarily have anything else especially analogous to them in modern everyday language. Think for a minute about what exactly that 'h' is doing in the middle of the name John, for instance, and all of a sudden one of the most common and normal forenames in the English-speaking world becomes a minefield. (Perhaps unsurprising, in this context, is the number of times you can find non-native speakers on e.g. YouTube misspelling it 'Jhon'.)

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': [[ComicBook/WonderGirl Cassie]]'s first few outing with Hermes' flying sandals work out great, until she goes for a practice flight and starts questioning how they work which also causes her to fear falling from her incredible height which causes the things to stop functioning until she stops overthinking things. She only survives because she's accompanied by an adult with impressive innate NotQuiteFlight abilities. She gets the hang of using them just by instinct pretty quick, and shortly thereafter her power limiters are removed which allows her to fly without them.

* Does this door open inwards or outwards?

The trope is sufficiently well-known that sometimes the writer will just have someone comment, "Oh, he's got [[TitleDrop Centipede's Dilemma]]," or the like, rather than actually explaining what the problem is when Mr. Awesome starts messing up.

%%On Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, leave it up to ThisTroper to say: [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/you-are-now-breathing-manually "You are now breathing manually!"]] I'm such a {{Jerkass}}! [[EvilGloating I can almost see you all gritting your teeth and shouting]] "YouBastard" [[{{GIFT}} at the internet stranger right now!]] [[EvilLaugh Mwuahahahaha!]]

* A condition called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasmodic_dysphonia spasmodic dysphonia]] causes the sufferer to be unable to speak in spontaneous conversation, though they can often still speak in routine ways such as singing, rhyme, recalled speech, or vocal reading; acts which circumvent the process of coming up with words. Creator/ScottAdams had this.

** That OldMaster also mentally notes that this is an issue with All Might and his instruction of Midoriya in One For All's use. All Might took to One For All far more easily than Midoriya did, and it shows in how he trains his student. The use of One For All comes much more naturally to All Might that his explanations to Midoriya are generally vague and less useful than they should be because he doesn't realize it ''isn't'' coming so naturally to Midoriya.

-->-- '''[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Tiffany Aching]]''', ''Discworld/IShallWearMidnight''

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Referenced in ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky''. Miss Level once had this trope described to her by an acrobat: "Never ask the tightrope walker how he keeps his balance. If he stops to think about it, he falls off." This principle helped her out later on. This [[TruthInTelevision was proven]] on a Derren Brown show, where he asked an experienced tightrope walker stuff like that, and repeatedly told him not to fall off. Guess what happened next.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** Related to this we have people on the high-functioning parts of the autism spectrum who, due to undeveloped body language, may rehearse movements, facial expressions and gestures until they're pretty much automatic in order to come across as more "neurotypical." The final results of this effort may vary, but even if the "act" is unconvincing it can still always get worse if attention is brought to the flaws in the autist's performance as this makes them consciously aware of their behavior and their attempts to avoid the flaws in their performance may lead to their act deteriorating until their movements are more akin to those of [[UncannyValley possessed marionettes.]]

* Ask an avid reader to read a kids book out loud, and their likely start sounding like their incapable of reading. Experienced readers learn short cuts when reading to themselves, like skipping over words when they think they know what they will be or not bothering to figure out how to pronounce a complicated name, which work quite well reading alone, but which can't be done when reading out-loud. Of course once one notices that these methods don't work it's easy to get stuck thinking about what your reading so much that you become even more prone to stumbling on words and generally sounding like your still a beginning reader.

** One caveat: a lot of these also result in superstitions due to the naive understanding of things like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-hand_fallacy hot hand fallacy]], GamblersFallacy, and other cases of ArtisticLicenseStatistics.
*** One obvious example: of course the deeper a no-hitter goes, the more likely it is that the pitcher will blow it. First, a no-hitter involves a lot of luck, and if the pitcher hadn't already had a run of good fortune, we wouldn't be talking about his possible no-hitter. However, as each batter is an independent event, there's no reason to believe he has better odds in his current or future encounter with the opposition's line-up. Second, a pitcher is always easier to get a hit on later during his appearance. A pitcher suffers fatigue and throws with less power and control later in in the game. Likewise, his opposition has now had a few good looks at his stuff and has had a few chances to find his timing. These are skills any decent batter ought to have. Add in a little post hoc ergo propter hoc, or the FalseCause, and it's easy to attribute a close-but-no-cigar no-hitter to the wrong trope.

* A mild version can be experienced by saying, reading, or thinking about a particular word too much (try all the uses of the word "pink" on the PinkProductPloy page for a good example.) After a certain number of repetitions the word itself will lose all meaning to you. Your brain still consciously knows it's a symbol for something, and know what that something is, but it feels like you're no longer using a word, but rather a really weird symbol that means the same thing. It is called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_satiation semantic satiation]].

The trope is sufficiently well-known that sometimes the writer will just have someone comment, "Oh, he's got Centipede's Dilemma," or the like, rather than actually explaining what the problem is when Mr. Awesome starts messing up.

** One caveat: a lot of these also result in superstitions due to the naive understanding of things like the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot-hand_fallacy hot hand theory]], GamblersFallacy, and other cases of ArtisticLicenseStatistics.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', Doug needs to talk to Chalky after being accused of cheating off him on a test, but Chalky is in the middle of track practice, and Doug is desperately trying to keep up with him, jumping over every hurdle along side him. After the second hurdle, Chalky comments, "Hey, you're pretty good Doug!" That's when Doug realizes what he's doing and trips over the next hurdle.
** In another episode, Judy flunks her driver's test because she had trouble parallel parking. While they're out driving, Doug tries to encourage her to practice and try again. Finally he reveals the reason why. He had promised Patti that she could drive them to Bumper Car Mania that weekend. Upon hearing this, Judy becomes enraged, and starts chewing out Doug, during which time she successfully pulls off a parallel parking job. She doesn't even realize it until Doug points it out to her. Turns out she just had not really think about it.
* A credits gag in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FishHooks'' has Snake reading a book on animals and comes to the point where it says animals don't talk. When she points it out to Mouse they suddenly lose this ability.
* A RunningGag in ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' is that a character can run (pun not intended) across water or even air just fine [[GravityIsAHarshMistress as long as somebody else doesn't point them at this fact]].

* In military, the Close Order Drill, "square bashing", originates in overcoming this issue. Making the movements automatic and instinct in the muscle memory creates the basis on action on battlefield.
** Learning "Drill and Ceremony" (D&C) in the military is an example. Teaching a soldier how to march makes them consciously think about how their arms and legs move during what is, essentially, "precision walking". Many recruits, when first instructed to swing the opposite arm forward with each step, overthink it so much that they will initially swing the arm of the ''same'' side with each step, resulting in a frankly hilarious and incredibly unnatural looking stride. It literally takes ''weeks'' to learn how to march to the proper cadence. Not to mention a plenitude of other skills in the military, such as firing a weapon, or [[GunStripping disassembling and reassembling]] equipment for maintenance or repair. Particularly important if you need to fire, disassemble, and reassemble your weapon in the midst of combat (such as when needing to clear a misfire from your weapon). Also note that you may need to do this, and any other important tasks, while also dealing with the mother of all fight-or-flight induced adrenaline surges.
** In the Finnish Army, the conscripts are taught first to disassemble and reassemble the service weapon normally, then behind one's back but eyes open, then blindfolded, and finally behind one's back and blindfolded (blindfolding one's eyes does affect on muscle coordination and balance). The nimblest can perform it under 30 seconds with the RK 62 assault rifle.

* As a general rule, any situation where a person's pulse needs to be taken is also a situation where breathing rate needs to be taken. Since breathing rate is under direct conscious control, the proper procedure is to count breaths and take the pulse simultaneously, and ''never'' mention breathing to avoid this trope. And now you know. Hey, [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife we warned you]]. Somewhat related is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_coat_hypertension white coat hypertension]], wherein some people's blood pressures elevate reflexively when intimidated by the idea of medical examinations.

* ''Film/{{Cimarron}}'': The newspaper printer Ricky has a stutter which improves over the course of the film. Towards the end, a character compliments Ricky for not stuttering so much as he used to. Ricky's stutter immediately returns.
-->'''Ricky:''' Oh, w-w-what'd you have to bring it up for?